I was cleaning out some boxes the other day, and I found my old heart rate monitor. Coincidentally, I have been reading some posts about aerobic training at the Natural Running Center website. So, I decided to try out the monitor on a run using the Maffetone heart rate formula (180 – age).
I found that I would quickly go over the recommended heart rate when running at a normal clip. After having to stop a few times, I tried run at a much slower pace to keep my heart rate down. While this was successful in keeping the heart rate down, the motion felt unnatural and seemed to beat me up more than if I were running at a normal speed.
I also just read a new study that showed the metatarsals can possibly get overloaded with too much slow running.
Overall, I would then conclude that if a lower heart rate is the goal, it would be better to run at a normal pace and then walk when needed, rather than running continuously at a very slow pace.
Whether this works or not in practice, I don't know! I will test it out this weekend.
I would not be surprised that this is how primal man moved along, if he needed to travel long distances…running and walking, the key being maximiziing your distance with a minimum of effort…
Matt,
“Overall, I would then conclude that if a lower heart rate is the goal, it would be better to run at a normal pace and then walk when needed, rather than running continuously at a very slow pace.”
wouldn’t this sum up in perfection the natural persistent hunt?
As to hear rate…I’m very confused about it as just like our “best food choices” vary from person to person.
Haven’t looked at Maffetone’s site for a while. Heading over.
Marc
The point of Maffetone’s method (which I use myself) is the keep the body at the point of maximum fat-burning, in order to train the body to use fat as the primary fuel for exercise. Maffetone says he developed this formula after working with athletes on a treadmill to determine what was the maximum exertion at which they would continue to burn fat, and not start tapping into glycogen stores. (You can tell if the body is burning fat or glucose by measuring the Respiratory Quotient.)
Burning fat as the primary fuel source means the endurance athlete can exercise longer with less need for nutrition. There are a whole range of other benefits that Maffetone claims for his methods, which are now finding support in science (the topic to google is “mitochondrial biogenesis”).
Maffetone’s method includes better nutrition, a low-carb paleo diet (he’s modified this a bit over the years, but that’s basically where he is now).
Running over the MAF (Maximum Aerobic Function) rate voids the effect, as your body will tap into glycogen stores. You can tell that this has happened by your appetite after exertion: at a MAF pace you’ll typically have no hunger after exertion, at a faster pace you’ll find yourself craving carbs to replace lost glycogen.
He’s worked with a number of athlete’s who went on to become champions and set world records using his method, some of whom are now coaches in their own right, re-teaching Maffetone’s method. Mark Allen and Stu Mittleman are two of the more notable. Lance Armstrong also used the low-HR training block to build aerobic capacity, and approach he no doubt learned while racing against Mark Allen.
So the lower HR isn’t the goal, it’s the means to and end.
Tuck,
I toyed around with this method a few years ago, but not seriously. I will give it a go for a few weeks or so and see how it feels.